You Are What You Eat

Let’s talk about farming.

I live in a farming community and here, it’s not unusual to see a bumper sticker on a Ford pickup truck that reads “No Farmers, No Food.”  I think people in the city have no clue about the amount of work it takes a farmer to produce the food that we take for granted will be in our market when we want it.  After sowing, tending, and cultivating our small organic garden, I have grown to appreciate the labor of love that farming is more and more. 

About a year or so ago I learned about the farming crisis in the San Joaquin Valley in California.  The story goes that the federal government cut off the water supply to the valley because a very small fish was getting caught in the filtering system, and the “powers that be” decided that the life of the fish was more important than feeding people.  The food supply decreased by 40%, and the farmers in the valley were standing in food lines waiting for handouts because they were unable to grow food.  Whaaat? 

So I researched the fish. Apparently, this particular “endangered” fish – the Delta smelt, a bait fish - is not even indigenous to the area…What?  So I called the White House, and I asked when the water supply would be turned on.  The gentleman on the other end of the phone had a very thick accent (maybe he was from the UN) and while I had a hard time understanding him, the reply was just that he would pass along my question and he offered no dialogue.  I don’t think he knew what I was talking about.  So in protest and to support American growers, I decided to never buy any produce from a foreign nation (unless it can’t grow here), and I hoped that others would follow my boycott.  My goal was to have foreign produce rotting in the grocery stores.  That never happened and I think it’s because people have no clue where their food comes from, nor do they ever look at the little sticker. As long as we can just go pick it off the shelf then all is well.  But I don’t think that the American farmer feels that  way.

If nobody farms- and if our government keeps them from farming - then where are we going to get our food?  China?  Mexico?  Holland?  What type of regulations are they held to?  How fresh can this food possibly be and what chemicals are being used to keep it fresh?  What types of pesticides are used?  Why are we sacrificing American farmers?   Think about it. 

Check out your local Farmer’s Market and encourage your local community to prosper.  Talk about fresh! Other than your own garden, that’s as good as it gets.  And when you go the grocery store, seek out produce grown in the USA.  It’s fresher, better, and when you can buy organic. I strongly suggest you do so and rid your body of pesticides - only God knows what that does to you.  Remember, you are what you eat!